


How Do We Rewrite The Stars

by VesperRiver



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Compliant, Canon Temporary Character Death, Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, F/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Relationship Negotiation, Secret Relationship, Wings, mild body horror mention
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2019-04-18
Packaged: 2019-08-25 19:35:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16666954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VesperRiver/pseuds/VesperRiver
Summary: What if Lup and Barry had gotten together before The Legato Conservatory and manage to keep it a secret from (mostly) everyone? Well, this is that!title is from "Rewrite The Stars" from The Greatest Showman!





	1. Cycle 8

**Author's Note:**

> im supposed to be working on a presentation for world religions but here i am posting this akdjhfalskjdf
> 
> thanks to the taz fic writers discord for helping to come up with this idea

“Hey, Lup! Do you want to come and look for The Light with Cap’nport, Barry and I?” Magnus asks. She assumes he has a large grin on his face but it is obscured by the mask that covers most of it. 

“Oh hell yeah!” she says and stands up quickly. If Barry is going, she's going. “I was going to hang with Taako again this cycle but he’s doing some boring shit.” Why does it matter that Barry is going? She doesn’t know. 

“Oh yeah, you don’t need to pack for anything. We’re taking the ship.” Magnus says, “thought it would be cool for us to hang out.” 

“And I'm the best ever at burning shit, like ever.”

Magnus laughs, “that too! We’re going to leave after I get fitted for a flamethrower.” 

“Cool,” she grins and goes to find Taako.

She finds him picking some of the mushrooms for his paper mache like version of The Light.

“Hey, Taako. I’m going with Magnus, Barry, and Cap’nport to look for the light. I’d help you with whatever you're doing here but it seems boring as hell and I want to blow shit up.” She says to him.

“I’m collecting mushrooms for the fake light,” Taako says in mock offense, “go ahead and blow shit up, I don't really mind.” He smiles, or she assumes he does.

She gives him a hug, “see ya in a bit bro.”

“Could you get a good look at the light for me? So I can make this thing as accurate as possible?” he asks after she lets him go. 

“Yeah, of course!” 

After Magnus got fitted for the flamethrowers and pissed while he had both of them on, Lup thought this was funny. The four of them plus some locals fly off towards the south, they get most of the way there before doing short hops and triangulating to see if they get close. 

Though one day, Magnus begins acting funny, and he just looks horrible.

“Magnus? Are you okay?” Lup asks with concern, “You look like shit, my dude.” 

“You didn’t happen to take off your mask on accident did you by any chance?” Barry asks.

His eyes widen, “shit, uh, yeah. It was on accident. I wasn’t thinking. I wanted to eat some of my hard candy.” 

“We can ask the locals what we can do to help save you but I don't think there's much we can do for you at this point, Magnus.” Davenport frowns, “Please be careful next time.” 

“I-I will Cap…” he coughs, “I don’t think I’ll be much help from here on out.” Magnus smiles weakly.

The locals do their best to keep him going, but he just keeps on getting worse and worse. It fucking sucks and Lup hates it. She hates seeing her friend suffering like that. 

Though, he seems to be getting better. He’s actually up and walking and doing alright. 

“Do you think you’ll be able to come with us tomorrow to search?” Barry asks.

“Maybe, depending on how I feel I guess,” Magnus shrugs.

“You seem to be doing better, so hopefully you’ll be able to join us again.” Davenport says, “It seems like we're getting closer to the light. The locals are saying that the mushrooms are abnormally large here.”

“So the light is affecting the growth of the mushrooms right? So the larger they are the closer we’re getting. So all we need to do is go where the larger ones are.” Barry says.

“Yeah, that sounds right.”

“Tomorrow we will head that way. Rest up so we can get started early and make progress.” the gnome says with what Lup thinks is a smile hidden behind the mask.

They were wrong about Magnus getting better. He had passed during the night. Even though Lup knew that he would be back in a few months doesn’t mean it still hurt. 

Barry was the one who had gone to go wake the fighter up and returns a moment later with a somber look on his face. “He’s gone,” he says softly.

“What? But he was fine yesterday!” Lup protests, her voice cracks slightly. 

“I guess we were wrong?” Davenport frowns, “We did everything we could, there was nothing else we could've done,” he says to her and pats her hip. 

“Y-your right, Dav. He would want us to finish finding the light and not just give up.” she sniffles.

“What should we do with him, though? Can’t just leave him on the ship…” Barry wraps an arm around Lup’s shoulder. 

“We could burn him along with the mushrooms?” Lup offers and is totally not blushing right now, nope. Shes just flushed from crying.

“We could,” Davenport sighs, “I don’t see why not.”

So later that day, Lup and Barry put Magnus’ body by one of the larger mushroom spores where there's a smaller mushroom growing.

“Here lies Magnus Burnsides, the security officer for the IPRE, a good friend and an even greater person who always puts a smile on everyone's faces. See you in a few months” Davenport says with a shaky sigh, “Lup?” 

Lup throws a fireball towards the base of the mushroom and turns away. She’d rather not watch the body of her friend burn.

“Let’s get going,” Barry says, his voice scratchy from crying himself. 

As the three of them walk away, the smell of a burning body reaches their noses. It's a horrible, horrible smell. But its soon replaced by the smell of the burning mushrooms around them. 

It doesn't take long to get to the center of the forest and what Lup sees is horrifying. 

The light is beautiful. It always has been on its own. But this? It's a totally different story. The mushrooms have grown to a monstrous height and are nearly blinding to look at.

What she sees is these mushroom people that have appeared from time to time and they're all dead. Lying prostrate all around it like they tried to worship it and just gave up on life. Like they wanted to wield it but didn't know how to so they chose to just lay there and just die. 

“What the fuck…” Barry whispers from her side.

“It looks like they were worshiping it but couldn't handle its power.” 

“Yeah. this is… I don't know how to describe it.” 

“Depressing? Horrifying? A lot of other things?” Lup says poking the nearest one with her foot.

“Yeah. let’s get the light. I’d rather not look at this any longer.” Davenport says. 

“Good idea,” Barry says and goes to grab it. He carefully makes his way through the bodies of the mushroom people. As if they're going to come back to life and kill him.

They return with enough time for Taako to make the fake version of the light and share the news of Magnus’ passing to the rest of the crew and take a moment of silence for their friend who had passed.

“So do you think you’ll be able to make a fake light in time for the hunger to arrive?” Lup asks.

“Yeah, yeah I think so.” Taako grins.

Taako manages to make the replica right in time. When the hunger arrives, Merle stays behind to preach to his congregation. Lup watches as her brother drops the light off the side of the ship and the hunger going straight towards it. But all of them know that they won't be able to do this again. They fooled the hunger once but not again.


	2. Cycle 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup finds Barry crying and gives him comfort. Later, he returns the favor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m feeling pretty inspired with this fic so have another chapter! I’m having a lot of fun w this lmao

This world is wracked with plagues. It’s horrible, there doesn’t seem to be any cure for most of them either. 

Barry doesn’t exactly like how this cycle is going for the seven of them either. Taako and Lucretia have both fallen ill to two different plagues. 

The search for the cures is so far turning up to be Ill-fated, for Lucretia more than Taako.

It’s rough seeing the two of them in such horrible shape and that there isn’t much they could do.

It’s hitting Barry hard. All of these people are suffering without no real cure to save them? But this is their lifestyle.

This plague-ridden world. Living day by day knowing that one will be your last.

Barry doesn’t want to cry over this. But he back home, he saw one of his relatives suffer through a terrible illness and not make it. 

All of this is reminding him so much of it.

“Barry?” He hears Lup's voice cut through his thoughts, “are you okay?”

“H-hey. I don’t know,” he gives her a watery smile.

“Are you crying?” She asks in concern and sits next to him on his bed.

He doesn’t answer and just sniffles, “I know how you feel with Taako being so sick like that,” he says eventually.

“Barold, this isn’t about me right now. What’s wrong?” She asks with concern in her voice.

“I was just remembering something from my childhood, uh, a relative of mine got really sick. Kinda similar to what’s happening right now.” He sniffles again.

Lup frowns and wraps an arm around his shoulders, “that must’ve been really hard.” She whispers.

“It was, we didn’t know what was wrong. So he just got worse and worse.” He lets out a sob.

Lup is silent, she pulls him closer and takes off his glasses so he can cry into her shoulder. She just lets him cry it out.

She begins to cry with him, “I can’t imagine life without Taako and frankly I don’t want to.”

“I was an only child so I don’t know what it’s like to have a sibling.” He sighs shakily.

Lup sniffles, “it’s not always great. Taako and I may get along but not all the time y’know?” 

He shrugs, “can I ask how you're feeling about this now?”

“Shitty. He looks miserable, and I just want to be with him, but I can’t or else I’ll get sick too.” 

Barry nods, “this cycle sucks.” 

“It really does, even if we do find the light, these people will still suffer. It just doesn’t feel right.”

“Yeah. I get what you're saying,” he says, “thank you.” 

“For what?” 

“Being here with me.” He blushes slightly. Maybe he’s starting to develop feelings for her.

“No problem,” she releases him, but he’s still holding onto her. “You can let me go now.”

“Oh. Sorry.” He lets go of her, his face turning redder. 

“It’s okay.” She smiles softly and takes his hand into hers.

He definitely is starting to develop feelings for her. But would it be unprofessional? Under normal circumstances, it would be. But what they’re going through isn’t normal. 

“Is it okay if I, uh,” He says but stops himself there. Be professional Barry. 

“If you?” She gives him a curious look.

“It’s dumb, never mind,” he rubs the back of his neck awkwardly.

Lup gives him an odd look, “it doesn't seem dumb.”

He takes a deep breath and moves to kiss her on the lips. Just for a second, and then pulls away. 

“Sorry,” Barry says immediately.

She’s silent and he fears for the worst, “Barry?” Lup whispers.

“I should’ve asked first, I’m sorry.” He says and turns away from her and lets go of her hand.

“It’s okay.” She reassures him quickly, “uh, I don’t know how I feel right now.” 

He nods, he probably went too far.

“But it’s nothing bad! Trust me!” Lup laughs nervously, “it’s just this cycle is fucking me up and everything is shitty.” 

Barry relaxes, he has a chance then? “Okay.” He says simply.

“We’ll get back to you when emotions are in order.” 

He nods, “that’s uh, understandable.” 

“I’m going to go check on Taako and Lucy, see you later?” She stands up and gives him a reassuring smile. 

Lucretia passes away a week later. Taako lasts for another month before he too succumbs to his illness. 

Lup was inconsolable for the next week after that. This is the first time that either of the twins has died. The first time that Lup has to live without Taako.

Barry knocks on her door, “Lup? Can I come in?” He asks.

She opens the door. her eyes are red and puffy from crying and her hair is a mess. “What do you want?” She whispers.

“I wanted to check on you, just to see how you're doing.”

“I’m feeling shitty,” Lup says and steps out of the way to let him in. 

He pulls her into a hug, “you’ll see him again soon.”

“I know,” she whispers, her voice cracking as she begins to cry again.

So Barry just stands there with Lup, he lets her cry on his shoulder. He’s just returning the favor for her letting him cry on her shoulder.

“I fucking hate crying so much,” she says eventually, “makes me feel so much shittier.”

Barry nods and rubs her back, this must be an uncomfortable position for her to be leaning down onto his shoulder like this since Lup is taller than him, “I get it, but sometimes you just need to cry.”

“I miss him.” she says and lifts her head off his shoulder and flops onto her bed with a groan, “I miss Lucy too, fuck.”

He sits next to her on the bed, “I miss them both too, do you want me to leave you alone now?” he asks and begins to stand up after a moment of silence.

“No!” she says suddenly and blushes from her outburst, “No, uh, stay. Please.” she says quietly.

He nods and feels his face heat up. Barry takes her hand and gives it a reassuring squeeze. “If you ever need a hug, I’m here.”

A small smile appears on Lup's face, “Thank you.”

He smiles back, “No problem.”


	3. Cycle 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup and Barry establish their relationship and determine how they're going to keep it a secret

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this was the chapter i was most excited about!!! blupjeans babey,,,,,,, its not as long as i would like it to be but its okay

Lup sits on a nearby table as she watches Barry repair a rather rambunctious spirit’s robotic form. 

She can't help but to laugh when he gets shocked, this little spirits laughter was contagious. 

“Can you stop shocking me for a second? I need to finish,” Barry says, frustration hinted in his voice. 

“But it’s funny!” the spirit giggles and kicks their feet. 

“Not for me,” he grumbles.

“Hey, let him fix you so you can go back to having fun.” Lup says, “The faster he’s done, the faster you can do that.” 

“Okay!” the spirit chirps and continues to kick their legs. 

“Thank you,” He smiles at her.

She nods and blushes, a warm feeling develops in her stomach. She realizes quickly that she loves him. Shes loved him since he kissed her three cycles ago. But her emotions were thrown into a blender so she couldn't really express it well enough to say anything.

But the mission. Wouldn’t this type of thing get in the way of it? Get in the way of discovering the best way of defeating The Hunger? 

The spirit shocks barry again and laughs, “sorry! I couldn’t help it!”

Barry sighs, “Lucky for you, I’m done. So skedaddle. Be more careful,” he says and closes the panel he was working on. 

The spirit jumps off the table and runs out the door. They yell a thank you as they do so. 

“You okay?” she asks.

“Yeah, didn’t shock me too hard.” 

“Good. Nice.”

They sit there in silence for what feels like forever. “So uh, about that kissing thing from three cycles ago?” 

Barry stiffens, “yeah? What about it?” he asks nervously.

“Just wanted to talk about it now that my brain isn't mush and we're trying not to die every fucking second.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

She sputters, “for what?” 

“The kissing thing?” 

“I liked it,” she blurts and feels her face and the tips of her ears getting warmer.

“O-oh.” he blushes. “Do… do you want to do it again?”

She nods and leans in. Barry meets her halfway, and its… nice. Even better than the first time. Now that she’s in the right mindset. It's not her first kiss, but it’s the best kiss that she’s ever had. Not because she loves Barry, or maybe it is. 

Lup pulls away and smiles. Its definitely because she loves him. “So how about that kiss?” she asks.

“Good.” he grins. Gods she loves that smile. 

“Barry?”

“Yeah?” 

“Do you want to date? I know we have to focus on the mission and everything. But I think I love you?” she asks.

“Yes. I would love to. I think I’ve loved you ever since I first met you, Lup,” he laughs, “I thought that maybe you wouldn’t want to because obviously the situation we're in now.”

Lup grins, then frowns. “Right, the mission. We can still be together and focus on it, can’t we? We’ll just have to keep it a secret for as long as we can.” 

“We can sure try keeping it a secret, but I think one of us will have to tell Taako at some point. He will definitely want to know.” 

“Yeah. he will.” she frowns, “I just want to keep it between us for now though.” 

Barry nods, “Okay. we can do that.” he takes her hand into his.

“It's going to be hard hiding this,” Lup sighs.

“Yeah,” He says and frowns.

“What’s wrong babe?”

Barry blushes, “Just thinking?”

“‘Bout what?” she asks curiously.

“How we’re going to hide this?”

“Maybe we can pretend to have huge crushes on each other and just flirt? I’m blanking on the word,” Lup says. 

“Pining?”

“Yes! That! We can do that!” she laughs and gets off the table to wrap barry in a hug, “I love your thinking face it's adorable. Just thought I should let you know.” She grins and kisses him again.

“U-uh thanks…” he says with a goofy grin on his face, the third kiss was better than the other two. “We won’t be able to do actual couple stuff unless we’re alone so that kinda sucks. 

“It does yeah, but maybe we can do a dramatic reveal in a later cycle? That’ll be fun.” Lup chuckles and looks out the window, “Shit, maybe we should start to get back to the rest of the crew it's getting kinda late.” she frowns.

Barry nods and she, almost reluctantly, lets go of him in favor of just holding hands. The two of them walk through the city together and none of them really say anything. There’s nothing that needs to be said, really. Most of it has already been said when true feelings were revealed. 

Lup leans down and presses another kiss to Barry’s lips before she pulls away and lets go of his hand in favor of putting her hands into the pockets of her robe. She already misses the feeling of his hand in hers, but it’s a sacrifice that she already agreed to take. The mission is first, of course. They both know that. There has to be a way to escape The Hunger.

Once the two get back to the ship, taako comes up to her, “hey Lup, I’m going to go looking for scraps and shit, want to join me?” 

“Oh hell yeah,” she grins, “Where are we going?”

“There’s a whole level of this place full of stuff and we might need it to repair the ship in later cycles.”

“Oh good idea!” she grins, “when are we leaving?”

“Tomorrow, first thing.”


	4. Cycle 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lup and Barry spend some time together alone

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WING CYCLE!
> 
> theres like some mild body horror mentioned in this chapter? but its not in detail or anything

This cycle is full of people with wings. It’s the only way they travel from place to place high in the sky. 

Only the children don’t have wings, but at a certain age in their life, they grow them in. but in case if that child doesn’t grow wings, they have potions. So the seven of them were given these potions so they could grow in their own wings. 

Growing in wings is a very painful process. Magnus was the first to drink and it was rather hard to watch. Lup couldn't imagine how painful it must've been. To grow these new bones and have the ones you have now reconfigured to ones suitable for a being that could fly. 

But then it was her turn and she was not prepared for the pain. She could feel the new bones growing out of her shoulder blades and her skin growing over those bones to accommodate these new body parts. The feathers were the least painful thing about it, they grew in quickly. The color of her wings are a brilliant bright red, much like the color of her IPRE robes. The wings of a cardinal.

They barely managed to see the light when it first entered the plane and are working on finding it. 

“Hey Barry, do you want to come search for The Light with me?” lup asks, one of her wings twitching slightly.

He perks up from his position on the couch and smiles, “sure!”

“Wow. You’re not asking me? Your own brother? I’m offended Lup!” Taako gasps dramatically.

Lup rolls her eyes, “I scouted with you yesterday, goofus.” 

“I know, but I have the right to feel insulted,” her twin pouts.

She chuckles and kisses his forehead, “We’ll be back later.” 

Barry follows her out onto the deck of the Starblaster, she stands onto the railing and stares down at the dangerously rocky ground far, far below her. Lup steps forward and jumps.

Her hair whips around her as she falls, it’s exhilarating. She unfurls her wings and the wind gets knocked out of her for just a moment, Lup gets her bearings quickly and flaps up to where Barry is.

“Hey babe,” she smiles widely.

“Hey,” He smiles back, “I’m assuming you just wanted some alone time with me?”

“Mhm, race you to that landform over there!” Lup points to the floating piece of land with a small temple on it.

“You’re on!” Barry grins and starts to glide towards it with lup close behind him. 

She flaps her wings harder and just barely manages to beat her boyfriend to the floating island shrine.

“Nice,” Barry says and pops his shoulder blades back into place, lup does the same. It’s not painful, but its super uncomfortable if you don't.

“I beat you,” she teases with a laugh and kisses his cheek.

“Hey, we aren't that far from where the ship is parked, we still have to be careful.” he smiles with a blush. 

“I know, but this shrine is rad. Don’t know who’s it's for though.”

“Probably for one of their sky gods, but yeah it’s pretty cool. Do you want to go further out?” Barry asks.

“And take you to smoochville? Hell yes.” she unfurls her wings and takes a running jump this time and flies in the opposite direction of the ship. 

She will take every chance she can get to have some time alone with her boyfriend privately. They have so far kept it a secret for two years. Lup hopes that there will be a time where they can reveal their relationship, but that time is not now. There’s too much at stake, so much to lose. 

The two of them fly until the silver ship is out of sight and land on a piece of land with nothing on it. 

Barry immediately pulls her into a deep kiss and pulls away with a large smile on his face. “I love you,” he says.

“Aw babe,” she says breathlessly, “Love you too.” 

She sits down in the middle of the island, furling her wings back closer to her body so that they are pressed up against her back fully. Lup pats the ground next to her, “Sit.” 

Barry complies and wraps an arm around her waist, “what do you think about this cycle?” he asks.

“I like it, wings are pretty cool. But growing them? That was hell. Would not do it again.”

“Oh yeah, that part sucked,” he winces, “these people actually have the bone structure to grow them when they are born. But we didn’t, so the potion changed all of our anatomies basically.”

“Yeah, made all of our bones lighter. I don't know how the kiddos do it.” she leans back against him and kisses his chin, “I guess it doesn't hurt as much.”

“Oh yeah, it definitely doesn’t hurt as much for them. Do you think we can ask to get some extra potions?” Barry wonders.

“Maybe, do you want to try and replicate it?”

“Yeah, just in case we have a need for wings later on.”

“Oh that's actually a good idea, but is it worth it going through the pain of a transformation?” Lup wonders. “If we actually need a use for it, yes. But otherwise, no.”

Barry hums in agreement and pulls her closer, mindful of her wings so he doesn't accidentally damage them. “A downside is that we can’t cuddle, I don’t want to damage your wings.” he pouts.

“That's a downside, yeah. You gotta take care of these things too, bear.” lup flexes the wing that's not pressed against Barry, “but laying in the sun with them out feels amazing.” 

“Yeah? Never tried that.”

“Shit, really? You gotta!” she sits up and flips over so that she's laying on her stomach in the grass, she spreads her wings out fully and may or may not have smacked barry in the face with them. 

But barry follows her example and spreads his own dark blue wings out. His are a bit larger than hers, but it doesn’t matter. 

She was right, the sun feels amazing on his wings. 

“Told you it felt good,” Lup says and scoots closer to him. “But it feels better on the ship, to be honest.” 

“I’ll have to try it that way too, maybe when the others are out of the ship and its just the two of us?” he offers, his smile mirrors the one growing on his girlfriends face.

“Definitely,” she says and places a kiss onto barry’s nose. 

The two of them lie there for a while and relish their privacy in this moment they’re spending alone, stealing an occasional kiss while talking about nothing in particular.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> follow my tumblr executive-cucumber! hope you enjoyed!


	5. Cycle 21: Beach Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako finds out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AJSDHFALK GOD sorry for like no updates at all since kravitz week, that burnt me out a bit. but now im back, somewhat! yay! beach cycle time!
> 
> also! i go by vesper now! :D

Barry can’t swim.

Now that wouldn’t be an issue if the world they were on wasn’t mostly water. 

Lup had told him it's fine he can’t swim, but he’d rather not be stuck on land as the rest of his family was out in the ocean swimming and having fun without him. 

So, taking it upon himself and risking the secrecy of his and Lup’s relationship, he goes to Taako to teach him how to swim. 

Maybe he wants to impress her too. 

But the time he spends with her is very limited because Magnus has decided to spend his time sneaking around and yelling out his name and scaring the shit out of everyone whenever he does it. 

They’ve lost a few mugs because of this.

It’s close to the end of the year now, and Barry is good at swimming now. 

“I appreciate that you taught me how to swim. And there have been times where I haven’t been able to hang out with everybody cause y’all go swimming and there are times where people I, like, you know, want to hang out with.” He pauses, how is he going to do this without telling Taako that Lup is his girlfriend? “I haven’t been able to do it and that’s not a good look and it makes me look like a big nerd and I um…” He pauses.

Taako nods and makes a noise of acknowledgment. 

“It’s just that- it's just- nevermind. It’s nothing. Thanks for teaching me how to swim!” He blurts and stands up. 

“Wh- well, what?” Taako grabs his arm before he could fully stand, “What are, who are you afraid of looking silly in front of?” 

Shit, he really dug himself into this hole, huh? “It- it’s nothing, don’t worry about it.” 

“Cmon Barryyy," the elf nudges, “I rolled an 11 you have to tell me,” he says in a singy voice.

“You rolled a what?” he continues when Taako waves it off, he will have to tell him. “I think uh- Like all of you? I don’t want to embarrass myself in front of, for example, uh, Lup?”

“Okay…” he motions for him to continue, eyebrow raised. 

“I, uh, look up to her a lot and I don’t want to flounder and splash around like a goobus out there so thank-” Barry says blushing, he knows that Lup wouldn’t do anything like that to him. 

“Okay uh, I see where you’re going with this, Barry. This is no surprise to me.” Fuck. Shit. how does he know already? The two of them were so careful. “You’ve never heard the term ‘locked in’? It when a wave crashes when the surfer is inside it?” Okay maybe not. But Taako almost gave him a heart attack.

“It's one of those surfer things?” He adds, running a hand through his now longer hair that’s basically encrusted with salt at this point and continues, “Anyway, Barry. You’re locked in and this wave is crashin’ all around you, my man.” 

“Uh, Taako,” He says, slightly relieved that he doesn’t know yet.

Though the elf next to him continues without acknowledging that he had just said anything in the first place, “I don’t begrudge you anything. You know, we’ve lost a lot, and uh, there’s a lot more that we might lose, but the one thing we do have is the thing that people in love rarely even have enough of and it's time.” 

“W-well…” He says and rubs his neck, “Actually, uh. Shit, I’m gonna have to tell you now.” 

“Tell me what?” 

“Your speech was nice and all, I agree, but uh, Lup and I. We’ve been together for 4 cycles now?” He says sheepishly.

“Barold what the fuck.” 

“Sorry?” 

“No, I don’t give a shit that you’re dating my sister, I do give a shit that I said all of that for nothing!”

“I tried to tell you but you ignored me,” Barry laughs. “We decided that our relationship shouldn’t affect the mission so we’re keeping it a secret, didn’t think I’d have to tell you this early though. Shit.” 

“Yeah, that’s understandable. Hopefully, Magnus wasn’t stalking us in the shadows.” taako grins. 

Barry shivers, “ugh, yeah. I’m afraid for my life at this point.” 

He laughs, “I mean, same. Let’s get back to the ship.”

Barry knocks on Lup’s door when they get back to the ship and gives her a sheepish smile, “So uh, bad news. Taako knows now.”

“What? Did you tell him?” she asks, her eyes wide.

“I kinda had to. he gave me this speech about how we have all the time we’ll ever need?” 

“I’m upset about that. It was a good speech Barry! And I wasted it!” 

“Taako, you will have to keep this a secret too. We don’t anyone to know.” Lup says and pulls the two into her room. “I didn’t expect you to find out so fast. What the fuck.” 

“Yeah, I can do that.” 

“It's been so hard this cycle, Taako. Fantasy Jesus Christ.” 

“With Magnus? Yeah, I can imagine. So tell me everything.” He grins and flops down onto Lup’s bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yeet
> 
> follow my tumblr! executive-cucumber :)


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